Legend
by Rydia Highwind
Summary: FF4 - The story of Cecil's past. Don't read if you don't already know. Spoilers run rampant through this fic.
1. Separation

If you have not finished the game FFIV, this may not be the fic for you, as it deals with -the- biggest spoiler in the game. x.o Oh yeah, and sorry the chapters are so short. New experimentation with writing styles. Please R&R!  
  
**Legend**  
_Chapter One - Separation_   
  
  
The morning started out like any other morning. The toddler awoke first, and, dragging his favorite stuffed chocobo on the floor behind him, he peered over the side of his slumbering parents' bed, his emerald gaze inquisitive and full of wonder. "Ma?" he said quietly.  
  
The woman stirred in the bed and slowly opened her eyes, which were the same color, but not the same quality, of the small boy's. "Mmm...CeCil, look out the window," she whispered, as not to awaken her sleeping husband. "Do you see how the sun is still hiding from us? That means it's not time to wake up yet."  
  
The eighteen month old toddler nodded, but didn't go back to his bed. "Ma, come," he stated. He pulled her blanket, a sense of urgency in his doing so. "Come, Ma, come."  
  
The woman, Alexandria was her name, sighed softly, but reluctantly left the comforts of her warm bed and followed CeCil to his room. She tiptoed, not only because of her husband, but CeCil's older brother, GolBez, was asleep as well. "You must be quiet, little CeCil," she admonished in response to his plodding footsteps. But the toddler tugged her hand hurriedly.  
  
She entered the boys' room with an expression of slight exasperation adorning her fine, slim features. She wasn't sure what her younger son was so concerned about; seeing as he was only a year and a half old, he couldn't formulate sentences properly yet, although he was bright for his age.  
  
But what she saw, immediately stopped her dead in her tracks.  
  
Out the window, the sky was painted in a horrific display of reds and oranges, leaping together and licking all they could with their deadly, fiery grip. The display was far enough from the little house that they were still safe, but it was steadily coming closer. Three year old GolBez was awake and peering out the window excitedly. "Ma, look!" He pointed happily.  
  
"GolBez!" she cried, still frozen in place. "GolBez, get away from that window and come with me!" Without waiting for a reply, she scooped CeCil into one arm and pulled GolBez along with her back down the dark corridor towards her bedroom. CeCil, never having seen his mother like this before, started to whimper softly.  
  
Upon reaching the far room, she unceremoniously placed CeCil on the bed, made sure GolBez, who was now crying as well, and proceeded to wake the man sleeping there. "Klu! Klu, wake up! They've come!" she cried anxiously.  
  
The man immediately was awakened. "They...they've come...?" he questioned, rubbing the sleep from his slightly glowing violet eyes.  
  
"Yes! Klu, we've got to leave, now!"  
  
Klu was out of bed in about three seconds, rapidly pulling on the closest set of clothing. "Get GolBez and CeCil ready, and get your riding clothes, Alexandria. There's nothing to panic about...yet." He turned to his two quietly sniffling sons and put a reassuring hand on each of their shoulders. "GolBez. CeCil. Do not cry. We need to move away from here for a while. You must not be afraid. Be strong for your daddy, okay?"  
  
The older boy nodded, understanding, and wiped away his tears. The younger saw this and put on his bravest face, wiping his tears too. Klu smiled lovingly. "That's what I like to see in my boys," he said, ruffling their hair.  
  
There was a shuddering sound in the far off distance, causing Alexandria to jump nervously. "Klu...they're coming closer," she whispered, her voice in a panic.  
  
Klu stood back up, walking stolidly to the closet in the corner of the room. From the closet, he pulled a long, metallic weapon, shining an eerie red color in the light of the ruby moon. The fires were not visible from this end of the small house, but the shuddering, thunderous blasts were becoming not only louder, but more frequent. Klu sheathed the dazzling sword, then walked over to his two sons. "Alex, you take CeCil. I'll take GolBez. FuSo still hasn't contacted me and if he doesn't now, he won't until we reach the mountain. CeCil, son, be good for your mother," he said softly, then scooped GolBez into his strong arms.  
  
The woman nodded, now adorned in her riding clothes. She wrapped a blanket about GolBez's shoulders and head and gave him a quick kiss on the cheek before wrapping CeCil in another blanket. GolBez wiggled free of his blanket cocoon and gazed at his father with wide, unblinking violet eyes, eyes with that unearthly glow he had inherited from his father. "Are we going to ride the chocobos, Daddy?"  
  
"Choco!" CeCil squealed eagerly.  
  
Klu had to smile. Ever since they had captured the pair of the yellow birds, the boys had been longing to ride them. Now, finally, although the situation dire, they would finally get their chance. "Yes, GolBez, we're going to ride the chocobos," he smiled gently.  
  
CeCil was ecstatically clinging to the stuffed chocobo he had and happily crying the word 'choco' over and over. Even Alexandria had to smile, despite her misgivings.  
  
Within ten minutes, they were on the duo of chocobos, Klu and GolBez on one, Alexandria and CeCil on the other. In the distance behind them, individual torches were becoming visible, and yelling could be made out between the distant rumbling roars. The chocobos stayed close. CeCil was lulled by the rhythmic steps of the chocobo and found himself nodding off in his mother's arms. But that was suddenly cut short as the chocobo screeched loudly and halted. His mother cried out in surprise as their perch fell to the ground, and she clung to her son protectively as she hit the ground.  
  
Klu had heard the chocobo fall and had swung his around to see what was the matter. And what he saw did not make him happy.  
  
They had been ambushed. Dark figures surrounded the woman and her child and were quickly advancing on the other chocobo. With inhuman ability and speed, Klu, still carrying little GolBez, leapt from his mount and landed perfectly on the hard soil below. "If you dare hurt my wife or my either of my children...," Klu started threateningly.  
  
The aggressors did not give him the chance to continue. Immediately, they were upon him, swords and spears glowing weirdly in the torchlight. Klu drew his sword, whirled once, and placed GolBez where he'd be presumably safe on the chocobo's back. And then he fought.  
  
Miraculously, the sword--the Legend, it was called, and quite appropriately-- pushed back the battling shadows for a time. But many more pressed in on Klu and GolBez and could not hold them off.  
  
Meanwhile, the figures around Alexandria and CeCil were closing in. Alexandria wasn't much of a fighter, but she did imbed a few well-placed arrows before letting herself be captured. Seeing her husband fighting gallantly toward her, she saw the immense danger he was putting on himself and GolBez. She called him, "Go! Klu, just go! Get GolBez out of here! CeCil and I will be fine! Hurry!"  
  
Klu saw how futile the battle was and retreated back to the chocobo, where GolBez was still clinging fearfully, too frightened to do anything but stare. With another well timed leap, Klu was again on the back of the chocobo, and he grabbed his son protectively and urged the bird to go.  
  
That it did. The poor yellow creature had been scared out of his mind, but well-trained enough (and possibly in some sort of mind-lock) that it had not bolted before. So now, when released from its duty to stand still, took off running at top speed. Klu frowned sadly as they sped from their attackers. Somehow he knew he'd never see his wife or younger son again. 


	2. Death

If you have not finished the game FFIV, this may not be the fic for you, as it deals with -the- biggest spoiler in the game. x.o Oh yeah, and sorry the chapters are so short. New experimentation with writing styles. Please R&R!  
  
**Legend**  
_Chapter Two - Death_   
  
  
Because of CeCil's relentless screaming, he was allowed to stay by his mother, apparently the only one capable of calming him. The dark figures had turned out to be men from the village not far from where the family held their cottage. Klu had predicted something was amiss a few weeks before when the men stopped greeting him when we came through the town. It didn't take a genius to figure it out; they were being possessed.  
  
Alexandria and CeCil were taken to the village, where they were put in a small house and completely surrounded by the men, who continued to stare eerily at them, especially at CeCil. The toddler didn't like these men, and, when one got too close, he would whack them with his stuffed chocobo.  
  
The men seemed to be waiting for someone or something. Alexandria had a horrible fear that she knew who that someone was. She knew it was ZeMus, a being she had never met, but heard awful stories about from Klu, who had grown up with him. At the thought, she shivered and hugged CeCil closer.  
  
The sun had risen and set twice before anything different happened. Every day it was the same, with different faces. CeCil often found himself very bored indeed, but, for the most part, unwilling to leave his mother's lap. When he tried, however, she would immediately pull him back to her. They were fed twice a day, the same tasteless, gray matter as always.  
  
The guards became lax. It was just a woman and a baby, who couldn't handle a woman and a baby? By that third day, only two guards watched over them, one pathetically plump man, and the other short and smelled of liquor. CeCil was in a bad mood and whined to his mother so annoyingly that the guards decided to bring the captives outside, just to get the kid to shut up.  
  
Outside, something strange happened. The plump man--Kabez was his name --slammed his meaty fist into the short man's skull, rendering him senseless, and grabbed Alexandria's arm, dragging her to a stable. "This way!" he hissed. "I'm a friend, sent by Klu!"  
  
Alexandria slapped a hand across CeCil's mouth to keep him hushed, then scooped him up and placing him silently on the black chocobo Kabez was gesturing at. She started to climb on as well.  
  
Suddenly the stable door burst open and about ten angry men poured angrily into the small building. "Go!" Kabez yelled, shoving Alexandria up onto the nervous bird and slapping its behind.  
  
The bird began flapping its wings frantically. The next events were a flurry of motion for Alexandria--the shouts, the screams of pain, the white hot pain, Cecil's terrified scream, the chocobo squealing in fear, and then, finally, the darkness.  
  
Kabez was unscathed, as he was considered still on the side of the other village men, and watched the scene in terror as Alexandria fell with a potentially deadly blow to the back of her head. She collapsed, unconscious and possibly dead, atop of the child.  
  
"Keep the kid alive," someone yelled. "He's all Lord ZeMus really wants anyway."  
  
"I'll take care of 'em," Kabez muttered gruffly. The others nodded and slowly began filing out of the stable, apparently taking his action in the stable in the first place as trying to recapture the woman and child.  
  
When the stable was completely empty and the others were scattered out of hearing range, he knelt next to the fallen woman. Placing one hand to her wrist, he tried to find a pulse.  
  
There was nothing.  
  
He cursed softly. Klu had been a friend of his and he knew how much Alexandria had meant to him. There was no way he would ever be able to face him again, knowing that by his own hands almost, Klu's beloved wife had been murdered. He closed his eyes and looked down sadly.  
  
Almost immediately, though, he could feel someone watching him. His eyes snapped back open and were met by the most piercing, green-eyed gaze he had ever seen. The child was still alive. The child must be rescued. "CeCilYa," he said softly, "son of KluYa."  
  
CeCil blinked at him.  
  
"Come with me, m'boy. We're going to go find your dad." 


	3. Premonition

If you have not finished the game FFIV, this may not be the fic for you, as it deals with -the- biggest spoiler in the game. x.o Oh yeah, and sorry the chapters are so short. New experimentation with writing styles. Please R&R!  
  
**Legend**  
_Chapter Three - Premonition_   
  
  
Klu awoke to the strands of light drifting down through the cracks in the ceiling of the cave he and GolBez had taken refuge in. It had been three days since he had last seen Alexandria and CeCil. And he was beginning to worry that Kabez had failed him.  
  
GolBez stirred. Klu looked sadly at his elder son. He had no way to feed the boy properly; they had just been eating what little food he had had with him and what he had been able to kill, which wasn't much, seeing as his only weapon was a sword, a short distance weapon.  
  
Klu sat up slowly, pondering what to do. He wanted to wait here, wait for Kabez to come, and Kabez would have Alex and CeCil with him, he just had to. But GolBez was hungry and Klu needed to reach the top of Mount Ordeals to make contact with his brother FuSo. He would give them one more day.  
  
A thought hit him suddenly--if ZeMus was out to kill him, which he surely was, why didn't he disguise the men that he'd possessed so that they couldn't be seen and just burn the small cottage down? Perhaps he feared Klu would sense the cloak of magic over them. But that didn't make sense. While Klu could sense magic in his waking hours, there was no way he'd be able to do so while he was asleep.  
  
And then it struck him.  
  
ZeMus didn't want to just destroy his family, he wanted to take the family. He wanted an apprentice, and who easier to possess than a simple half-bred baby boy?  
  
And he already had CeCil....  
  
That meant that if Klu failed to destroy ZeMus, GolBez would be the only one left to do it. And with CeCil on ZeMus' side, that would just make things even harder on the boy.  
  
Which meant they had to go today. Alexandria was likely already dead, as was Kabez, and CeCil in ZeMus' hands. Klu stood up, suddenly uneasy with this realization. He quickly slipped on his armor he had removed to make sleeping more comfortable and attached the Legend to his belt. Then he lifted the still slumbering GolBez and wrapped him securely in the blanket his mother had remembered three nights earlier. The boy stirred, then snuggled close to his father, not awakening.  
  
Klu carried his son up from the base of Mount Ordeals, where they had camped, and towards the towering summit. The sun was up, just peaking over the darkened ocean in the distance, casting a splendid array of the majestic sunrise over the waking earth. Somehow, with the direness of the situation on hand, the reds spread over the sky could be nothing but a symbol of bloodshed in Klu's eyes.  
  
_Someone is going to die today, but will it be ZeMus...or me?_  
  
The morbid thoughts would not leave his mind, even as the biting chill of the morning air cut crisply into his mind. He was afraid, truly, for himself, for his wife, for his brother, and mostly, for his sons. He had come to the blue planet knowing that he would never be truly accepted for who he was, and that everyone he came in contact with could potentially be in danger. He had promised himself that he would be close to no one. But then....  
  
But then he had met Alexandria.  
  
It was his own fault for not understanding that feeling known as love. FuSo had warned him, his instincts had warned him, but he'd paid no heed. He went ahead and fell in love anyway.  
  
And now, because of him, the Blue Planet was in serious jeopardy of becoming Zemus' play thing.  
  
They were halfway up the mountain before little GolBez finally stirred and awoke. His violet eyes were wide as he glanced about him at the gray craggy cliffs about him; never having been to a mountain, the three-year-old was entranced, and rightfully so. Ordeals was not a normal mountain by any means of the word. Somehow, as long as anyone could remember, it had been carved into natural paths reaching the summit. No one had carved a mountain path there, hardly anyone climbed the mountain. It just seemed to have grown that way.  
  
"Daddy...? Where we goin'...?" GolBez's innocent question struck a chord deep inside of Klu as he sighed and sat on a rock, allowing the boy to get down and stretch out his legs.  
  
The tall Lunarian chewed thoughtfully on his lower lip a long moment before answering. "Son, where we are going is a place where bad things are going to happen. I want you to promise me that you'll be brave, all right?" Klu found his eyes misted over as he gazed at the boy.  
  
GolBez grinned and tossed a rock down the face of the cliff, watching it bounce down until it could no longer be seen. "Of course I'll be brave. I'll be brave just like you, Daddy!" he said happily. "Mama always says I'm just like you."  
  
Slowly standing, Klu allowed a small smile play across his lips, so that his son may not see the fear and uncertainty he held of what lay ahead. "That's my boy," he said, again lifting the child into his strong arms. "We've just got a bit farther now until we reach the summit."  
  
Within an hour, the morning sky had brightened to a pale shade of gray splashed with a bit of blue-violet, and a cold, biting rain had begun to fall. GolBez was tired, hungry, wet, and cold, and he was not afraid to tell his father such either. Klu was not himself happy with the situation, though rain had been very much an every day part of life on Alua. Rain back on his home planet, however, had been more of a mist, a gentle breeze tousling thousands of airborne droplets cascading over his skin like a shower of sweet scented perfume; this was simply a torrential, icy nightmare, digging into them like cold, dark knives.  
  
At the summit, however, the rain died away, though it was obvious it still cascaded down around them. It was like there was an invisible barrier holding the rain off of the rocky peak, but still allowing it to fall on all sides. All about them this power held, and Klu could feel it and GolBez likely could as well, as the whining whimpers had quickly died out once they reached the central rock formation.  
  
"FuSo...?" Klu's voice choked out his brother's name, halfway knowing it was not him. But there was that last bit of hope in it, wishing, praying, dreaming that it was in fact his older brother.  
  
A voice replied, a voice filled with malice and scorn, a deep, ragged voice, a voice that did not belong to FuSo. "I'm afraid not, my dear KluYa," he said, and Klu turned slowly, still holding GolBez.  
  
Indeed it was not FuSo. It was ZeMus.  
  
  
  
_Side note: _A lua_ is Portegese for 'moon', so I just named their planet that. ^_^;;_


End file.
